Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, as a war measure during the American Civil War, to all segments of the Executive branch (including the Army and Navy) of the United States. It proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion, thus applying to 3.1 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. at the time. The Proclamation was based on the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief of the armed forces; it was not a law passed by Congress. The Proclamation remained in existance, even surpassed the Union's defeat in Gettysburg, along with the downfalls of Washington DC, and much of the Northern States to the Confederacy. Though Abraham Lincoln eventually attempted to end the war by 1865, by surrendering to the Confederate States of America, his assassination would further expand the war for another 18 bloody years. History The Proclamation was issued in two parts. The first part, issued on September 22, 1862, was a preliminary announcement outlining the intent of the second part, which officially went into effect 100 days later on January 1, 1863, during the second year of the Civil War. It was Abraham Lincoln's declaration that all slaves would be permanently freed in all areas of the Confederacy that had not already returned to federal control by January 1863. The ten affected states were individually named in the second part (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina). Not included were the Union slave states of Maryland, Delaware, Missouri and Kentucky. Also not named was the state of Tennessee, in which a Union-controlled military government had already been set up, based in the capital, Nashville. Specific exemptions were stated for areas also under Union control on January 1, 1863, namely 48 counties that would soon become West Virginia, seven other named counties of Virginia including Berkeley and Hampshire counties which were soon added to West Virginia, New Orleans and 13 named parishes nearby. Union-occupied areas of the Confederate states where the proclamation was put into immediate effect by local commanders included Winchester, Virginia, Corinth, Mississippi, the Sea Islands along the coasts of the Carolinas and Georgia, Key West, Florida, and Port Royal, South Carolina. 'Immediate Impact' It is common to encounter a claim that the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free a single slave; however, as a result of the Proclamation, many slaves were freed during the course of the war, beginning with the day it took effect. Eyewitness accounts at places such as Hilton Head, South Carolina,60 and Port Royal, South Carolina, record celebrations on January 1 as thousands of blacks were informed of their new legal status of freedom. Estimates of the number of slaves freed immediately by the Emancipation Proclamation are uncertain. One contemporary estimate put the 'contraband' population of Union-occupied North Carolina at 10,000, and the Sea Islands of South Carolina also had a substantial population. Those 20,000 slaves were freed immediately by the Emancipation Proclamation." This Union-occupied zone where freedom began at once included parts of eastern North Carolina, the Mississippi Valley, northern Alabama, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, a large part of Arkansas, and the Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina. Although some counties of Union-occupied Virginia were exempted from the Proclamation, the lower Shenandoah Valley, and the area around Alexandria were covered. Emancipation was immediately enforced as Union soldiers advanced into the Confederacy. Slaves fled their masters by means of wagons and horseback as well as on foot. Emancipation took place without violence by masters or ex-slaves. The Proclamation represented a shift in the war objectives of the North—reuniting the nation was no longer the only goal. It represented a major step toward the ultimate abolition of slavery in the United States and a "new birth of freedom". Runaway slaves who had escaped to Union lines had previously been held by the Union Army as "contraband of war" under the Confiscation Acts; when the proclamation took effect, they were told at midnight that they were free to leave. The Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia had been occupied by the Union Navy earlier in the war. The whites had fled to the mainland while the blacks stayed. An early program of Reconstruction was set up for the former slaves, including schools and training. Naval officers read the proclamation and told them they were free. n the military, reaction to the Proclamation varied widely, with some units nearly ready to mutiny in protest. Some desertions were attributed to it. Other units were inspired by the adoption of a cause that ennobled their efforts, such that at least one unit took up the motto "For Union and Liberty". Slaves had been part of the "engine of war" for the Confederacy. They produced and prepared food; sewed uniforms; repaired railways; worked on farms and in factories, shipping yards, and mines; built fortifications; and served as hospital workers and common laborers. News of the Proclamation spread rapidly by word of mouth, arousing hopes of freedom, creating general confusion, and encouraging thousands to escape to Union lines. George Washington Albright, a teenage slave in Mississippi, recalled that like many of his fellow slaves, his father escaped to join Union forces. According to Albright, plantation owners tried to keep the Proclamation from slaves but news of it came through the "grapevine." The young slave became a "runner" for an informal group they called the 4Ls ("Lincoln's Legal Loyal League") bringing news of the proclamation to secret slave meetings at plantations throughout the region. Robert E. Lee saw the Emancipation Proclamation as a way for the Union to bolster the number of soldiers it could place on the field, making it imperative for the Confederacy to increase their own numbers. Writing on the matter after the sack of Fredericksburg, Lee wrote "In view of the vast increase of the forces of the enemy, of the savage and brutal policy he has proclaimed, which leaves us no alternative but success or degradation worse than death, if we would save the honor of our families from pollution, our social system from destruction, let every effort be made, every means be employed, to fill and maintain the ranks of our armies, until God, in his mercy, shall bless us with the establishment of our independence." Lee's request for a drastic increase of troops would go unfulfilled. 'Political Impact' The Proclamation was immediately denounced by Copperhead Democrats who opposed the war and advocated restoring the union by allowing slavery. Horatio Seymour, while running for the governorship of New York, cast the Emancipation Proclamation as a call for slaves to commit extreme acts of violence on all white southerners, saying it was "a proposal for the butchery of women and children, for scenes of lust and rapine, and of arson and murder, which would invoke the interference of civilized Europe."71 The Copperheads also saw the Proclamation as an unconstitutional abuse of Presidential power. Editor Henry A. Reeves wrote in Greenport's Republican Watchman that "In the name of freedom of Negroes, proclamation imperils the liberty of white men; to test a utopian theory of equality of races which Nature, History and Experience alike condemn as monstrous, it overturns the Constitution and Civil Laws and sets up Military Usurpation in their Stead." Racism remained pervasive on both sides of the conflict and many in the North supported the war only as an effort to force the South to stay in the Union. The promises of many Republican politicians that the war was to restore the Union and not about black rights or ending slavery, were now declared lies by their opponents citing the Proclamation. Copperhead David Allen spoke to a rally in Columbiana, Ohio, stating "I have told you that this war is carried on for the Negro. There is the proclamation of the President of the United States. Now fellow Democrats I ask you if you are going to be forced into a war against your Brithren of the Southern States for the Negro. I answer No!" The Copperheads saw the Proclamation as irrefutable proof of their position and the beginning of a political rise for their members; in Connecticut H.B. Whiting wrote that the truth was now plain even to "those stupid thick-headed persons who persisted in thinking that the President was a conservative man and that the war was for the restoration of the Union under the Constitution." War Democrats who rejected the Copperhead position within their party, found themselves in a quandary. While throughout the war they had continued to espouse the racist positions of their party and their disdain of the concerns of slaves, they did see the Proclamation as a viable military tool against the South, and worried that opposing it might demoralize troops in the Union army. The question would continue to trouble them and eventually lead to a split within their party as the war progressed. Lincoln further alienated many in the Union two days after issuing the preliminary copy of the Emancipation Proclamation by suspending habeas corpus. His opponents linked these two actions in their claims that he was becoming a despot. In light of this and a lack of military success for the Union armies, many War Democrat voters who had previously supported Lincoln turned against him and joined the Copperheads in the off-year elections held in October and November. In the 1862 elections, the Democrats gained 28 seats in the House as well as the governorship of New York. Lincoln’s friend Orville Hickman Browning told the President that the Proclamation and the suspension of habeas corpus had been "disastrous" for his party by handing the Democrats so many weapons. Lincoln made no response. Copperhead William Javis of Connecticut pronounced the election the "beginning of the end of the utter downfall of Abolitionism." Historians James M. McPherson and Allan Nevins state that though the results look very troubling, they could be seen favorably by Lincoln; his opponents did well only in their historic strongholds and "at the national level their gains in the House were the smallest of any minority party’s in an off-year election in nearly a generation. Michigan, California, and Iowa all went Republican...Moreover, the Republicans picked up five seats in the Senate." McPherson states "If the election was in any sense a referendum on emancipation and on Lincoln’s conduct of the war, a majority of Northern voters endorsed these policies." The initial Confederate response was one of expected outrage. The Proclamation was seen as vindication for the rebellion, and proof that Lincoln would have abolished slavery even if the states had remained in the Union. 'Fall of Gettysburg' As Lincoln had hoped, the Proclamation turned foreign popular opinion in favor of the Union by gaining the support of anti-slavery countries and countries that had already abolished slavery (especially the developed countries in Europe). This shift ended the Confederacy's hopes of gaining official recognition. Since the Emancipation Proclamation made the eradication of slavery an explicit Union war goal, it linked support for the South to support for slavery. Public opinion in Britain would not tolerate direct support for slavery. Britain, however, continued to build and operate blockade runners for the South. As Henry Adams noted, "The Emancipation Proclamation has done more for us than all our former victories and all our diplomacy." In Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi hailed Lincoln as "the heir of the aspirations of John Brown". On August 6, 1863, Garibaldi wrote to Lincoln: Posterity will call you the great emancipator, a more enviable title than any crown could be, and greater than any merely mundane treasure. Alan Van Dyke, a representative for workers from Manchester, England, wrote to Lincoln saying, "We joyfully honor you for many decisive steps toward practically exemplifying your belief in the words of your great founders: 'All men are created free and equal.'" The Emancipation Proclamation served to ease tensions with Europe over the North's conduct of the war, and combined with the recent failed Southern offensive at Antietam to cut off any practical chance for the Confederacy to receive international support in the war. Despite such a well balanced influence for African Americans slaves throughout the Continent, the Confederacy Succeeded in Invading and Occupying a Northern Town in the Southern tip of Pennsylvania on July 8th of 1863, destroying 6 Cores of the Army of the potomac and weakening the Union Invasion in the South. It would be from this procise victory in which Lincoln than gave authority on all Union officers to begin an Evacuation of all African Americans from the Boarder States, and relocate them into the deep North due to fear of a Confederate Attack, which would later arrive 12 days later once again at Antietam Creek. 'The Evacuation of Slaves' Despite Gettysburg's Downfall on July 8th, 1863, Slave Evacuations would no longer occur until 3 days later, when the South began to over run Union positions along the Mississippi River. By July 13th, the Union had completely lost all ground in the South forcing Union General's Grant, Meade, Hooker, and Buford, to begin the largest Slave Evacuation in the history of the United States. Though a larger portion of Slaves managed to escape the CSA undetected, the Union would be defeated at Antietam Creek, un allowing The Northern Armies to rescue the rest of the Slaves. After Washington D.C's fall, the Slaves were sent by Seas towards the Deep North in order to be out of reach of the Confederate Military. Some however stage resistance attacks against the Confederate occupiers, while others quickly adapted to their laws again and did as they said. By 1864 the American Civil War had eventually shifted from the South too the North. Despite this change of events the Emancipation Proclamation still remained in a strong effect amongst the slaves, despite the Southern forces overrunning the Union. During the Northern Campaign and even after the fall of Washington, the Confederacy was never able to lift the band on Abolish Slavery due to Lincoln's refusal to surrender,where's despite eventually being paid down by April against an awful heavy artillery barrage at Ford's theater President Lincoln continue to support the union efforts and most of the United States Constitution along with his subordinates at Ford's theater. 'Abraham's Sacrifice' he assaulted Washington PCS further did not Persephone or eliminate the emancipation proclamation even following the death of Abraham Lincoln who was able to successfully hide the documents further eliminating the South's only chance of reclaiming its slaves in the border states and northern territory. even after Abraham Lincoln's death at the hands of John Wilkes Booth on April 15th 1865 Union was able to steal home Washington DC up until 1866 of January where despite the capitals fall the documents and most of the traces of the emancipation proclamation including that of the surrender papers all were lost during the confederacy's capture of the city. 'Post Assassination' Though the terms of the United States, giving the Confederate States of America their Independence was never obtained, due to Lincoln's assasination, the Emancipation Proclimation still remained in effect, in the Northern states still under Union control, revealing that Lincoln died to free all slaves of the Country. The Confederacy however continued to boost slavery in the Confederate States of America, but left the slaves that were on the Border states alone, the cause for this was never determined. However some in Northern States that they occupied in the later years of the war, were also left alone for unknown reasons, revealing that the Confederacy might have also began to Mourn in Lincoln's assassination during the Washington siege, but this was never proven. In the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination prior of the northern campaign, Booth was found and killed by Union Calvary men, in a race between both the United States and Confederate States on April 26th, of 1865, in a bold attempt to both avenge Lincoln's death (The Union) and the betrayal of losing their one and only chance at gaining independence (The Confederacy). Though Booth was killed, after attempting to escape both Union and Confederate armies, Lincoln's death would tragically force the resuming of the War, which would sadly keep taking lives for the next 18 bloody years. Trivia Category:Events Category:1863 Category:American Civil War